Funny how gratitude works. Sometimes. to become truly grateful, we have to regain something we’ve always taken for granted and lost. So it is with Samantha Snyder, canine cousin I’ve gotten to know in Gaithersburg, Md., these past few months. No comment on gratitude in the Dog Journal would be complete without her story.
On and off, I’ve spent weekends with Samantha and my cousins, her owners, while I immersed myself in a coach’s training program. It has not been an easy time for Samantha. She used to have the run of the house, and her favorite digs were in the basement, perched in front of the wide-screen TV. That was before, for an undisclosed reason, she was banned from the lower level.
Her eyes were sad. She whimpered. She barely wagged her tail. It didn’t help that I – a mere visitor – WAS allowed in the basement. Every step I took toward the basement door took her one step closer to clinical depression.
I was thrilled on my last night there to be present when Samantha was finally allowed to return – just in time for a family tournament of Quip-It, a wonderful TV game. Perched on a bean bag chair, looking from one of us to another, she could not have been more grateful to be included at last in the action. Her picture here, taken by Katie Snyder, is going on my desk as a reminder. Take nothing for granted!
